Two there, 16 still to arrive

Construction of an 18-turbine windfarm in north Northumberland is now well underway, with the turbines beginning to arrive on site.

RWE npower renewables has announced two turbines have been delivered to the Middlemoor windfarm to the north of Alnwick and the remaining 16 turbines are expected to be delivered between now and mid-May.

The turbine components (towers, hubs and blades) made their way from the Port of Blyth along the A1 and onto site, using the new access road, under police escort.

Project manager Martin Kelly said: “This is an exciting stage for us and marks the culmination of all the hard work carried out so far.

“We carried out a successful test run which proved that the route is suitable for the large vehicles, including the new access junction direct off the A1, and the first two turbines were delivered to site with no problems.”

The windfarm is scheduled to become fully operational by autumn 2013, by which time the £81,000 per annum community investment fund will also be open to applications.

The developer will shortly be launching a consultation to gather ideas from local people as to how the community benefit fund should be spent.

Meanwhile, the original developer behind the neighbouring Wandylaw windfarm, RidgeWind, has joined forces with and been acquired by Blue Energy.

The privately-owned company, one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy infrastructure, expects to invest £250million to acquire RidgeWind and build its development portfolio.

Blue Energy describes the 10-turbine windfarm on the Ellingham estate as one of two in RidgeWind’s portfolio that is ‘about to become operational’, with completion and the start of generation set for March.

Blue Energy CEO Chris Dean said: “Blue Energy has ambitious growth plans and RidgeWind gives us a strong portfolio and an experienced development team who have pioneered innovative community benefit schemes, which are so important in winning local support for windfarms.”